Never Alone
by chococsi
Summary: Danny and Lindsay grow closer, but will their opposing personalities push them apart? DL story, will be M in a few chapters
1. Chapter 1

_I happen to like this pairing a lot, and seeing as how I got some good reviews on this story where I posted it elsewhere, I thought I post it here as well. Plus here, the rating can go higher. Which it will . . ._

Ch.1:

"Who's Cindy?"

Danny looked up from the computer at the sound of Lindsay's voice. "What?"

"What, are you deaf now?" she teased him as she sat down next to him and began looking at his work. "I said, who's Cindy?"

"She's . . . just someone I know." _What the hell? Just someone you know?_ He looked over at her suspiciously. "Why?"

Lindsay shrugged and moved the mouse to correct a spelling error in Danny's report. "She's waiting for you in reception."

_No . . . not here too._

"Pretty girl," she continued, completely unaware of the many facial expressions the CSI next to her was going through. "Most definitely has a boyfriend, with her looks."

"Jealous?" Danny asked, recovering from his . . . whatever it was.

"Why? 'Cuz she's got a boyfriend?" She laughed. "Please. I'm practically married to my work." It was a defense mechanism, one Danny knew and recognized all too well.

But he wasn't supposed to care. All he was supposed to do was get out of there (preferably in one piece) with Cindy. Tonight was the night he was officially erasing that _stupid_ ringtone.

For good.  
TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Lindsay watched Danny walk out of the lab in an uncharacteristically slow manner. Whoever that Cindy was, he wasn't in a hurry to get to her.

She told herself she was going to sit there and finish the report -- but that just seemed stupid. Why correct Danny's work when she could very well let her curiosity get the best of her?

And let it she did.

She stood up and walked to the door, leaning on the frame while gazing down the hallway to where the couple stood. They were talking quietly, but Lindsay could tell by the way Danny's hands lay still at his sides that it wasn't about where to go for dinner.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Cindy's voice grew louder as her pretty face grew redder.

Lindsay could see him trying to calm her down, even though his voice was rising as well. "Nothing, just . . . nothing."

"Nothing? So that's what I am to you? Nothing?" That shriek was starting to get on her nerves. Now she understood what Hawkes was talking about with that ringtone.

"That's not what I sa-"

_Slap!_

Ooh . . . that had to hurt.

As Cindy strode off angrily, Danny turned around and started back to the lab, defeat evident in his shoulder stance. He looked up and caught Lindsay's eye; she could see that the little bit of his pride that had been stolen from him just then had been quickly replaced with exaustion and distance.

He opened his mouth to say something, but was prevented from doing so when Mac opened the door to his office and stuck his head out.

"Danny, Lindsay -- go home." When they started to protest, he added, "I don't want to see either of you in this lab before nine tomorrow morning or I'm kicking you out for a week." And then he was gone, leaving the two of them standing awkwardly, staring at each other.

He cleared his throat. "Well . . . good night."

"Yeah. You too."  
TBC


	3. Chapter 3

She was dreaming. She had to be. Why else would Danny Messer be calling her at 12:42 in the morning?

"Lindsay?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah?" _Who else would it be?_

Silence.

"Danny, if you don't want to be seriously hurt somewhere you _really_ don't want to be first thing in the morning, I suggest you-"

"Would you give up your leg to save my life?"

Silence.

"Montana?"

"What?" The confusion and annoyance was evident in the tone of her voice. "What kind of question is that?"

"I just had to - never mind."

"Danny."

"It was nothing."

"Danny."

"Just forg-"

"Danny!"

"What?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?" _How stupid could he be . . . _

"Yes to your question."

Silence. And then a dial tone ringing in her ear.

_Son of a . . ._

He would pay for that tomorrow (okay, today). Or at least explain.

"Can you believe it's only two weeks till Christmas?"

"Mornin' Stella," Danny said tiredly as he sipped his (second? third?) cup of coffee. How that woman could be that energetic this early in the morning was a case he was never going to solve. He was barely registering the fact that she was busy putting up holiday decorations in the break room.

"I was talking with Mac the other day about what we were doing in the lab to celebrate-"

"-and I distinctly remember saying no mistletoe." Mac walked into the room with a wary smile on his face, turning from side to side to ensure he was no where near the offending foliage.

"C'mon Mac! Where's your Christmas spirit?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but I don't think I'm going to find it by getting caught underneath that" (he pointed at the mistletoe Stella was hanging over one of the doorways) "with someone like, say, Flack."

"I'm hurt, Mac," Flack said as he walked in, followed closely by Hawkes. "I'm really, _deeply_ hurt."

"Sure ya' are, man," Danny teased him as he clapped him lightly on the back. "'Cuz who wouldn't want to be under the mistletoe with you?" They all laughed, and Stella continued her decorating spree as the four men began discussing the latest case.

Lindsay walked into the break room to find Stella sitting with the guys around the table, working on something. She looked up at the CSI's entrance and smiled.

"Oh, good. You're here." Everyone looked up as well, and for some inexplicable reason, Lindsay felt her stomach turn at the knowledge of Danny looking on. "Come pick your Secret Santa."

She moved further into the room to where Stella stood with a bowl filled with bits of folded paper. She slowly stuck her hand in and pulled out a name.

**Danny**

_Oh, no way in . . ._

"So you can't tell anyone who you got, and we-" Stella was talking again, but she tuned her out. Danny was staring at her again.

She didn't know why, but after the phone call the night before, she seemed more aware of him than ever. It was only when she realized that his brighter-than-blue eyes were getting closer that she noticed everyone had left the break room but them.

"Look," he began, "about last night-"

"It doesn't matter." Lindsay moved to leave but was stopped in the doorway by Danny's hand on her arm.

"Can you just wait a sec?" She turned around and was about to say something to him when she froze. He was looking somewhere above her head, and naturally she followed his gaze with her own.

Why did it have to be mistletoe?  
TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Why did it have to be mistletoe?

"Uh . . ." Danny cleared his throat. "Maybe I should just-"

"Oh, look what we have here," Stella said teasingly as she walked up, Hawkes and Flack in tow. "They're underneath the mistletoe."

"What are you doing back here? I thought you had a scene to get to." Realizing he still had his hand on Lindsay's arm, he removed it too quickly to be perfectly normal. 

"Already declared a suicide. Don't have to go after all." Could the smiles on their faces get any bigger?

"That's great." He cleared his throat again. "Well, I've got to go finish-"

"Uh-uh," Flack intoned. "No way you're leaving without kissing her, Messer."

"But Mac said-"

"It's tradition." He was going to kill Hawkes one of these days.

Sighing, he looked back at Lindsay. While he usually could clearly read her through her eyes, at the moment he was very confused by what he saw.

Was that . . . hurt? Or was it embarrassment? He couldn't tell.

Stella, Flack, and Hawkes were still watching, so Danny leaned in and lightly brushed his lips over hers. He quickly pulled back amidst the claps of the others, suddenly afraid to see her reaction.

Her eyes were closed and her cheeks were turning a light rosy color. 

"Lindsay?" Was she okay?

Her eyes shot open. "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." She looked around, clearly embarrassed. "I gotta go . . . um, . . . I just gotta go." And she took off down the hall to the office she liked to work in.

What had he just done? And why did he feel so horrible and wonderful at the same time?  
TBC


	5. Chapter 5

This wasn't happening. No way in . . . But it was.

Danny Messer was standing outside her apartment, asking to be let in. And if that wasn't bad enough, he had to be complaining.

"Could you let me in, already? I'm freezing my butt off out here, and I'm getting soaked!" he practically yelled into the intercom.

"It's raining?"

"Snowing. But it's melting really fast." He sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling. Can you let me in?"

Her only answer was the buzz of the door unlocking. 

Lindsay ran her hands through her hair and began pacing the short length of her living room. This wasn't fair. No, not fair at all. How could anyone expect her to act normally around him after what had happened earlier that day?

It was then that she realized that she was wearing only a pair of sweats and a thin tank top. She ran into her bedroom to change when the doorbell rang. 

Definitely not fair.

As she opened the door, she could see a smirk growing on Danny's face.

"What? No asking who it is?" he commented as he walked in, shaking his head lightly to rid it of some the snow it was currently housing. "I'm going to have to teach you some lessons in New York safety." 

Regarding her with inquisitve and appreciative eyes as he looked her up and down (something he wasn't quite sure _why_ he was doing it), he added, "Wouldn't want someone coming in and taking advantage of your cute little innocence."

Ignoring the cute part, Lindsay said, "Oh, I'm not as innocent as you think." She gestured towards her couch. "Want anything to drink?"

Danny gulped at her words. He couldn't . . . no. It was just a reflex. Yep. That was it. It had nothing to do with the fact that she had just said something (that shouldn't have been but was) so incredibely hot. And it also had nothing to do with the fact that she was standing in front of him in basically nothing but some really _thin_ pjs.

Plus her hair was a little . . . _No! Don't even go there, Messer _he thought.

Realizing she was still waiting for an answer, he shook his head. He lightly grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the couch (which he knew was completely unneccesary, but did it anyways).

"I need to explain," he started as he sat down.

"Explain what?" she asked. "The phone call after midnight last night, or the reason why you felt you needed to embarass me today at the lab?"

"That was-- embarass you? How did I embarass you?"

"You know what you did." She sat back and crossed her arms.

"You mean kissing you under the mistletoe?" She nodded. "How did that embarass you? I thought you enjoyed it." He knew that wasn't true, and so did she.

"Sure," she replied sarcastically. "I enjoyed it. Even the part where Stella, Flack, and Hawkes were watching us as if we were some kind of show."

Now Danny would never admit it, but seeing her all riled up made him feel something he hadn't felt in a while. She was hot-headed and upset, but she was also just plain _hot_. So he did the only thing he could think of at the moment (which later he would admit that it might not have been the smartest thing to do around a volatile woman who might have hurt him).

Danny leaned over and kissed her.  
TBC


	6. Chapter 6

It was a full forty seconds before Lindsay realized that Danny was kissing her, and another five before it hit her that she was kissing him back. Fighting back her first instinct to push him off, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into the kiss.

She groaned softly as he lightly ran his tongue over her lips (which, she would swear later, opened of their own accord to allow him greater access). One of his hands cupped her chin to move it into a better position, while the other rested somewhere in the vicinity of her hips. She really couldn't pinpoint its exact location, but she really didn't care.

Danny felt like he was in heaven. The little voices in his head were berating him for waiting so long to make a move on Lindsay. He knew she was very thorough with her job (that was why Mac hired her in the first place). But there was no way he would have ever thought she could be – _oh my . . ._

_. . . that_ meticulous in everything she did. (Oh, they were so doing this more often)

And how she could taste so simple yet so complex at the same time was a mystery he intended to solve – with a lot of fieldwork involved.

"Danny," she moaned against his lips as he started to pull away. The sound of his name passing through her lips made him ache even more, though he hadn't known he was aching for her at all. So he did what every man would do in his current half-state of arousal would do – he pressed himself closer and proceeded to taste every inch of her mouth.

Two minutes later, they both reluctantly pulled away from each other to catch their breaths.

"That was . . ." she trailed off with a smile.

"Yeah."

"Hey Danny!" He turned around at the sound of Flack's voice. Slowing down on his way to the A/V lab, he started to tease his friend.

"So, Flack," he began. "I heard that you got punched in the nose by a perp. A _female_ perp."

"Shut up."

Danny laughed. "C'mon man, you know I'm just jokin."

"Well, don't, kay? It hurt like a mother . . . Oh, hey Stella."

Stella walked past the two men and smiled. "Good morning boys. How's your case going?"

Flack replied as she continued on to Mac's office. "Nearly done. Just got to tie up some loose knots." She gave him a strange look and turned back around as she walked down the hall. He looked to Danny who was standing there laughing hysterically. "What?"

"Some loose knots?"

Flack's face turned red as he hurriedly opened the door to the A/V lab. "Gimme a break, damnit. My head hurts."

"I've got some aspirin for that if you want," Lindsay spoke from her perch near the computer terminal. She reached into her pocket and withdrew a small roll of pills.

Flack took it with a grateful look on his face. "Thanks Lindsay. I'm just gonna grab some coffee-sludge and be right back." As he left the room, he added lightheartedly, "Behave yourselves."

Danny moved to sit next to her so that their arms were touching. "So, how did you sleep?" he asked coyly as he sent one of his famous smiles her way.

"Absolutely wonderful." Lindsay smiled back at him and placed her hand on top of his where it was resting on the desktop. "I had a really good dream."

"Oh, yeah?" She nodded. He entwined his fingers with hers. "Tell me about this dream, _Montana_." She knew he added the nickname just to tease her, drawing a failed attempt at looking angry out of her.

"Well," she began, "I was in my apartment." He nodded and squeezed her hand. "And this extremely hot cop with the most entrancing blue eyes I had ever seen came in and started kissing me. _Very_ well, I might add."

"And did you recognize this good-looking cop?"

"Of course I did." Danny started to smirk, but it fell off his face at her next words. "It was Flack."

"Hey!" He let go of her hand and lightly shoved her off the desk. "Just for that, I'm sending him over tonight instead of me coming."

"Oh, you'll be coming." The smile growing on her face looked dangerous – in a very sexy way. "Maybe in more than one way."

Danny gulped, and Lindsay just laughed. As they stood staring at each other, there was a knock on the door. He gave it a strange look (it _was_ unlocked) while she went and opened it to find Flack standing there. He held a Styrofoam cup in each hand and was biting down on the edge of another one to keep it balanced in between his teeth. Lindsay quickly grabbed that one and threw her hip out slightly to hold the door open for the detective.

"Thanks, Linds," he said as he started to walk through the doorway. "You're a lifesaver. Wouldn't want the M.E. to say my cause of death was slow burn by crap posing as coffee." He stopped halfway through though, and looked up at something above his head.

He looked back down at her with a wide grin on his face.

"What?" she asked, clearly confused. She looked over at Danny for some explanation, but all she could do was watch his face slowly turn white, then an odd shade of red. Why did she have such a bad feeling about this?

As she looked back at Flack, he just pointed upwards. For the second time in twenty-four hours, she looked up at the center of the doorpost to find the proof that fate really did have it in for her.

Goddamn mistletoe.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

"Flack," Lindsay began, her tone full of warning and uncertainty. She regarded him warily and tried to move out from underneath the doorpost. But he had other plans.

"Wait," he said as he lightly grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. "There is a tradition that comes into play here, I believe." His grip tightened slightly, causing her to take a step closer to the tall detective.

Danny stepped forward. "Flack, this is not the time for games. We got a murderer out there-"

"He's in custody already," he cut him off, never taking his blue eyes off Lindsay's. "Remember?"

* * *

Flack couldn't help but think that this was fun. As he had walked back from the break room with the coffee, he had seen the two of them sitting closely together in the lab. Of course, he didn't know the whole story behind it, but he could see something in his friend's eyes as he looked at her that he hadn't seen in a while.

But how could he resist teasing him a little bit? It's what he was there for.

"I'm not one to break tradition, Messer."

He looked back at Lindsay to find her eyes darting between the two men, unsure of what to do. Might as well make her decision for her.

"Flack, I really need to-"

Flack leaned down swiftly and captured her lips with his own in a short kiss, pulling back almost just as quickly to gauge her reaction. He couldn't really tell at first. Her cheeks were slowly turning a light pink shade and her eyes were widening in an emotion he couldn't place. At least she didn't look mad . . . wait, . . . oh, _crap_.

Trying to get away, Lindsay backed into the door with a loud thud and tried to leave the room without further embarrassment. That is, until she ran into Hawkes and Marty walking in.

"That was some show, Lindsay," Marty said. "If you're kissing everyone in this lab I might just have to become a CSI."

She knew he was just teasing her; trying to be the flirty and smooth player his reputation made him out to be. But the humiliation from yet another unwarranted kiss in front of an audience combined with the anger at Danny for not saying anything caused her to lose control.

* * *

As soon as Hawkes saw the tears fall from Lindsay's eyes, he knew that the other men were in trouble. He was just glad that he hadn't said anything yet.

When Flack noticed them, he felt like dirt. "Oh, shit – Lindsay I'm so sorry-"

"Forget it." She cut him off quietly and walked out of the lab towards the elevators.

Then the eyes of one NYPD detective and two doctors were on Danny as his watched Lindsay walk away. "What?" he asked.

"Don't be a moron," they all said together.

"What, did you practice that or something?" But he knew they were right. So – once again – he did the only thing he could think of.

He ran out of the room and into the elevator she had just entered right before the doors shut.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Danny hadn't noticed that the elevator was semi-full as he had run after Lindsay. His plan wouldn't work around that many people. _That is_ he reminded himself _if I actually have a plan_.

He squeezed through the closing doors at the last minute and quickly sought out her form in the small space. Finding her almost right away, he calmly pushed his way through the group of people standing in front of him to the back of the elevator where Lindsay seemed to be trying to fade into the wallpaper in the corner.

"Hey," Danny said quietly as he stood as close to her as possible without actually touching. She just looked up at him and glared, standing up straight and taking a step forward – and away from him. In response, he just took a step forward as well, leaving him standing directly behind her and somewhat to the right.

Leaning down to whisper into her ear, he asked, "What's wrong?" And from the look on her face as she turned her head to answer, it was definitely a stupid question.

"What's wrong? Are you fucking kidding me?" A couple of people glanced back at them with questioning looks.

"Would you keep your voice down?"

"Well, it was your idea to hold this unnecessary conversation in an elevator full of people!"

"You're the one who ran in here-"

"After I was humiliated in there!"

The elevator dinged as the doors opened to reveal the parking garage and the exit to the street. It was raining outside, and they could hear thunder in the distance. Lindsay didn't worry about it though, seeing as how it would soon turn to snow and the thunder would go away.

All of the other people got off, and Danny could see that there was no one waiting to go up. It was then that he realized that normal working hours were over, and most of the people in the building from the day shift would be gone by now. Lindsay tried to leave as well, but he grabbed her arm and pushed the button to close the doors.

"What the hell, Danny?" she yelled angrily as she squirmed, trying to get out of his hold. He tightened his grip and pushed the button for their floor. "Let me go!"

"Why? Is there somewhere you need to be?" Now he was raising his voice as well.

"Anywhere but here, right at the moment." She squirmed again, but he wouldn't relinquish her arm.

She sighed heavily and backed up to lean against the closest wall, almost sagging completely against it. Danny took a step forward, released her arm, and placed his hand on her shoulder. He seemed to want to comfort her, but his actions were hesitant and uncertain. Thankfully no one on the floors in between the garage and theirs wanted a ride at that time.

"Lindsay, I-"

"You could have done something, you know." She was determined not to look directly at him, directly into his eyes.

"You mean you didn't want to kiss Flack?" he joked. "I think you really hurt him, Linds. Like, _deeply hurt_." She tried to hold back her smile. "I mean, Mac didn't want to do it, you don't want to do it, Stella and Hawkes definitely won't . . . Hmm . . . maybe _I_ will."

"What?" She looked up at his unexpected words and found herself staring into his eyes. And they were full of laughter.

"Oh, you know. I mean, you did it, so I think I should have a shot at it. Then Flack can say that he kissed the whole couple." He saw her eyes widen slightly and took a second to review his words. Then his eyes widened as well.

Danny looked over above the doors and saw that they had two more floors to go. The first one passed in silence. Then Lindsay spoke.

"Is that what we are now, Danny?" He looked back at her eyes to find them full of various emotions, some of which he couldn't figure out.

Right before the elevator dinged and the doors opened, he whispered, "I don't know."

* * *

"Danny, Lindsay – you guys should be heading home now." Both looked to the door at the sound of Mac's voice. He was standing in front of the doors next to Stella, both holding various files and neither looking like they were on their way home themselves. 

Lindsay placed her hand on the railing behind her and pushed herself up into a standing position. "I am. I just wanted to grab some things I forgot in my lock-"

"Did you see what she just did?" Stella asked Mac in the voice she used when she had just figured out something.

"Yes, I did," he replied, smiling at no one in particular. Danny and Lindsay stood next to each other in the elevator awkwardly, completely confused as to what was going on.

Mac looked at both of them. "Sorry, guys, but you're going to have to stay a little later. Meet us in the reconstruction lab in ten minutes."

And with that, they were off down the hall, leaving the two younger CSIs with no clue as to what to expect.

* * *

Lindsay couldn't decide if she was angry with Danny, or just plain annoyed. Both seemed to come into play a lot around him anyways. 

Sure, she had accompanied him to the break room to grab some coffee before they were to meet Mac and Stella. But she hadn't said one word to him other than a muttered "thanks" as he handed her a mug.

Now they were walking together towards the reconstruction lab – and who knows what else – in silence.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Danny watched Lindsay out of the corner of his eye as they strode down the hall towards their destination. While it took most women at least two of their shorter steps to match one of his long ones (or he had to slow down for them), she was holding her own. In fact, she was walking a little ahead of him. 

Maybe that was just because he was taking the time to study her.

He hadn't heard a word out of her (except for a forced "thanks" in the break room) since their encounter in the elevator and it was starting to bug him. This wasn't supposed to affect him like this. He wasn't supposed to care that she wanted him to defend her. He wasn't supposed to want her to not be mad at him – the whole reason he called her Montana was to get under her skin.

And he absolutely was not supposed to want to punch Flack's face in for kissing her and embarrassing her back in the A/V lab.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Mac and Stella were talking quietly over by a table in the large room when Danny and Lindsay arrived. Crime scene photos and reports from various labs, as well as a camera resting on the corner covered the tabletop. 

In the center of the room stood what looked like a large gray box with two doors that met in the middle of one of its walls. One of the audio-visual techs was setting up a stand with a video camera pointing down into the top of the "box".

"Why do I get the feelin' I'm not going to like this very much?" Danny asked Stella as she looked up and spotted the two of them standing in the doorway. She walked over to them with a smile, carrying two black duffel bags.

"Because you're probably not going to," she answered him as she handed one to each of them. "But that doesn't matter. You're doing this whether you like it or not. Now go change into what I gave you."

"That doesn't sound very encouraging," Lindsay said, opening up the bag and taking a look inside. She gasped quietly. "Stella, I can't wear this!" she insisted, trying to give the bag back to her.

Stella pushed it back to her. "Sorry, Lindsay. We have to recreate our crime scene with all the circumstances exactly the same. Otherwise, this just won't work."

"I thought your scene was in an elevator in a private mansion," Danny said, looking into his own bag with curiosity.

"It was," Mac replied, gesturing towards the structure in the room. He pushed a button on a remote he was holding and the doors opened up to reveal what looked like the interior of an elevator. "Full scale replica of the elevator at the scene, except for the ceiling. Only thing it doesn't do is go up and down." He seemed pretty satisfied with himself, and very anxious to do this little reconstruction.

"But why-" Lindsay began, but Stella cut her off.

"We were going to do this tomorrow, but when we saw you in the elevator something clicked and we felt like we needed to do this right away. Plus we figured this would be easier for you guys if there wasn't anybody around to watch." Danny opened his mouth to ask her what exactly it was that someone would be watching when she added quickly, "You two fit the victims height and body structure perfectly, and so you were the only ones who could do this. Now go get changed." She pushed them out the door and in the direction of the restrooms.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Lindsay muttered as she straightened herself out in the mirror. Whatever the victim had been thinking wearing something like this, she really didn't know. 

The bag had contained a full outfit, right down to the black stiletto shoes (as if those were really necessary for this, but unfortunately Stella was the kind of person who hated for anything to be incomplete – including outfits). Included in there were a tight black leather mini-skirt and a black corset that left nothing to the imagination.

All she was missing was the whip. _Too bad_ she thought. _It might have been fun to use on Danny_. She had to grin at that thought.

The whole ensemble was completed with fishnet stockings and a black choker that, combined with the corset, was making it harder for her to breathe.

Or maybe it was just the fact that she was going to be wearing this in front of Danny (Mac too, but he wasn't going to be a problem in her mind). At least she looked good in the outfit she told herself with a smirk, leaving the bathroom and coming face to face with Stella.

"Wow, look at you," she said with a smile. She circled Lindsay to check that everything was in place.

"Did your vic by any chance do . . . wear this for a living?" she asked Stella once the older woman had finished her inspection.

"We think so, but she still hasn't been ID-ed yet, so she may just be his latest fling dressing up for him," she replied. "We know that the male vic was drugged, and then-"

"Do people actually wear this shit?" Danny asked loudly as he stepped out of the men's room, looking down at his bare feet to check that he wasn't stepping on anything. He hadn't noticed Lindsay yet, so she took the chance to see what he was wearing, starting from the bottom up.

His feet were bare, and he was wearing dark blue flannel pajama pants that hung loosely around his waist and legs. The drawstring was pulled tight and tied in a loopy bow, and his shirt was . . . suspiciously absent. But the view of his chest was probably the one thing Lindsay wasn't going to complain about while they were doing this little experiment (whatever it was).

Not that she would ever let Danny know that, of course.

* * *

"It's just pajama pants, Danny," Stella told him as she walked over to him to fix the drawstring. 

"Yeah, but no one in their right mind wears these things anymore," he retorted, trying to get her hands away from where they were. "Nowadays it's just boxers and T-shirt, or nothin' at all."

Stella grinned her usual grin and said, "Well, at least it's nothing compared to what Lindsay has to wear."

His head shot up and looked around. "Why, what does Mont . . ." he trailed off as he spotted her standing further down the hall, her hands on her hips. He gulped, as he unabashedly looked her up and down in obvious approval.

Stella grabbed both their arms and pulled them towards the lab. "C'mon, you two. Let's get started before the night shift takes over." She pushed them through the door to where Mac was getting the video feed from the camera set up.

* * *

"Wow," a voice said from the corner of the room followed by a low whistle. Lindsay turned to see Flack standing there with a shit-eating grin on his face. Hawkes stood next to him, grinning as well. 

She turned to her boss. "Mac, I thought you said that there wouldn't be people around to watch."

"People, Lindsay, as in lab techs and the normal everyday crowd around here," he reminded her as he motioned them to enter the mock elevator. "They are on the same case, so naturally they need to be here as well."

She was about to protest when she felt a hand on the small of her back, urging her forward. Turning her head, she saw Danny looking at her with a small smile.

"C'mon Lindsay," he whispered gently as they walked into the elevator together. "The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can go home."

"We?" she countered with a smile of her own while his grew.

He nodded. "Yeah." He laughed. "Cuz' if you think that after seeing you in that I'm just gonna let you go home alone, you're about as nuts as those two bozos over there." He jerked his head towards Flack and Hawkes as Mac closed the doors.

* * *

"Okay," he said loud enough for them to hear through the walls. "This camera is recording for now, but it's hooked up to the computer so that we can see what you're doing in there." There was a crash of thunder outside and a few seconds later a flash of lightening. 

Danny still had his hand on Lindsay's back and he could feel her tense underneath his fingers as the lightning faded. He turned her around to face him, not wanting to say anything. So he tried to send a message to her through his eyes, hoping she would understand that he was there for her if she needed him. And if the smile on her face was any indication, she heard him loud and clear.

"Alright," Stella called out. "We need to get you guys into the correct position first."

* * *

For the next twenty minutes, Hawkes and Mac reviewed the crime scene photos while Stella studied the video feed to make sure that Lindsay and Danny were positioning themselves correctly. Based on the location of fingerprints and blood spatter, one of them would call out instructions to the couple on where to put their hands, feet, and anything else that they could figure out. 

"Back up against the south wall."

"Put your arms around her waist."

"Arms around his neck, Lindsay."

"No, maybe one around his neck. Put the other . . ."

" . . . around his waist."

"Danny, put your . . . left hand on the wall next to her head."

"Get closer. No, closer than that."

* * *

By the time Mac called out, "Okay, you're set. Now let's get started", Lindsay and Danny were in a very dangerous position. She was up against the wall with his body fully pressed up against hers. One of his legs was pushed between hers, while one of hers was slightly entwined with it. One of Lindsay's arms was around his waist, the other around his neck; both of his were around her waist, holding her flush against him. 

All in all, it was a position that they rather liked – except for the fact that there was a camera pointed at them the entire time.

"According to the data from the scene, this is whe-" Stella's next words were drowned out by a loud boom of thunder. There was a large flash as another bolt of lightening struck, knocking the power out.

They were only in total darkness for about three seconds until the backup generator kicked in and the emergency lights came on, flooding the room with green light. But as for the computer –

"Damnit!" Stella shouted out. "This damn computer shut down on me!"

* * *

Danny could hear Mac and Stella talking as they tried to restart the computer. He looked down at Lindsay in his arms and saw her eyes wide with apprehension. "Hey, it's alright," he soothed her in a whisper. 

"I'm alright," she whispered back. "I just don't like thunderstorms."

"Well, think of it this way: you're in a movie, and the thunder isn't real at all."

She closed her eyes and smiled. "That actually works. How did you come up with that?"

He grinned back. "Let's just say I didn't much like thunderstorms as a kid either."

"Hey you two!" Flack called out. "We gotta go find the A/V guy and call some people. You gonna be okay in there?"

"Yeah," Danny yelled back. "Hey Mac! Can we move?"

"Can you remember your exact position?"

"Down to the last finger."

"Alright. We'll be right back. Just stay in there at least." And with that, the lab was left silent, save the quiet sounds of breathing.

* * *

A minute – spent in the same positions as before – passed in silence, and Lindsay said, "I thought he said we could move." 

"He did."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Kiss me already."

And he did.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

"Danny," Lindsay moaned as his lips moved to her neck. "Danny, we can't." She lightly pushed him away; far enough to detach his mouth, but close enough to suit her need to touch him.

"Why not?" he asked as he leaned in again. "They can't see us."

"No, but they can _hear_ us," she insisted as she (reluctantly) pushed him away again. "And they will be able to tell what we've been doing if you keep – _oh_ – doing _that_."

He still didn't stop. "What if I want them to?" She moaned again, and he nearly died. The sooner they could get out of there – and back to his place – the better. Hell, he'd take the broom closet if he had to.

* * *

She was about to protest again when the sound of voices could be heard coming down the hall.

"—finish the experiment."

"I think we have enough, Mac." Stella's voice was drawing closer and the couple quickly pulled apart. "They're exhausted. I'm exhausted. Hell, I bet even you're exhausted."

"I'm tired," Flack's voice cut in followed by a badly suppressed chuckle that had to have come from Hawkes.

"You see? They're going to start laughing at test tubes if we keep them up any longer."

"Hey!"

"All I'm saying," she continued as they entered the room, "is that I think we have enough from them. At least for now."

There was a silence, which Danny took to mean that Mac was thinking about what Stella had said. He grinned at Lindsay and mentally crossed his fingers.

C'mon Mac… 

"Alright," he finally conceded. "You guys can go home."

* * *

"Uh, Stella?"

"Yeah?" She turned to face Lindsay as the younger woman approached her. Danny had taken off as soon as the "elevator" doors had opened and was standing outside talking to Flack and Hawkes while Mac began taking apart the video set up.

"This . . . outfit took a really long time to get on, and I have a feeling it'll take just as—"

"Say no more," Stella cut her off. "Just give it to me in the morning. Now go home and get some sleep." She shooed her out the door and into the hallway, leaving Lindsay with a feeling that if Stella's hadn't been as tired as they all were she would have caught on to her true motives. With a smile she turned to find Danny talking to the "two bozos" – who just happened to have their backs to her.

* * *

"You're one lucky man, Messer," Flack said, not yet noticing Lindsay behind him. "Who knew country girls could be so . . . hot."

Danny was about to reply with a smart-ass remark about the Simpson sisters when he caught the look on Lindsay's face. He decided to let her handle it, a move that later proved to be very . . . _amusing_.

"And who knew city boys could be so . . . dorky," she countered with a smirk.

They turned around to face her. "I happen to like being a dork, thank you very much," he replied and crossed his arms.

Hawkes and Danny started laughing. "Flack, do you know what a dork is?" He shook his head and the former M.E. leaned over and whispered something in his ear, eliciting a very shocked expression from the detective.

He recovered quickly, though, and said cockily, "No wonder I can't keep my eyes off Lindsay. If only I had a camera . . . ow!" Flack turned back around to Danny. "You hit me man!" Danny only shrugged, so he turned to Hawkes to complain when he found his friend wide-eyed and seemingly staring off into space.

"What the hell is wr…" He trailed off, having spun around to find what he was staring at, or rather _who_.

Lindsay was leaning over fixing something on one of her boots, outwardly oblivious to the men's attention she had so undeniably grabbed. "Can't . . . get it . . . to . . ." she muttered in between tiny tugs at her shoe. Looking up, she asked sweetly, "Can one of you go grab my jacket out of the locker room for me?"

Flack and Hawkes nearly knocked Danny over trying to be first to the rescue of her cold shoulders.

* * *

Danny slowly moved closer to Lindsay and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Nicely played, Montana. I think you almost made them have an accident right then and there."

She just grinned. "Remind me to thank Stella in the morning."

"She letting you return your getup in the morning'?" At her nod, his own smile grew wider and his voice took on a dangerous tone. "Remind me to thank her as well. C'mon, let's get out of here already."

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

_Yes, I am aware that this story is still set on that one day around Christmas time (remember the mistletoe?) and that the CSI episode when the TV crew followed them around was set later on than that, but I'm rearranging some timelines for my story to work. Hope you'll forgive me. And again, I'm sorry that the update took so damn long. Hopefully the next one will come a lot faster. :D

* * *

_

"Danny."

"Hmm?"

"Stop."

"Stop what?"

"You can't do that here."

"But you like it."

"Danny . . ."

"Why should I stop, Linds? I'm just getting to the best part."

"Because we're on a public subway train, for one thing. For another, that guy over there has been staring at me since we got on, and it's kind of creeping me out."

Danny looked up from rubbing her bare foot and glanced over his shoulder to the back of the train. True to Lindsay's word, a guy was sitting in the seat next to the door. His dark eyes were fixed on a path that traveled down her body to where his hands rested and back up, again and again.

"You know," she said in a shaky whisper, "I watched that stupid forensic reality show the other night."

"Really?" He couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice as his head turned back towards her. Since the show had premiered, Lindsay had said nothing about it – except to call it a "pathetic and insulting use of valuable air-time."

She shrugged. "There was nothing else on, and I couldn't sleep."

"You could have called me," he grumbled jokingly.

Swatting his arm playfully, she laughed. "This was before our little . . . _thing_ under the mistletoe. Anyways – the episode was showcasing the Vegas crime lab-"

"You know we're so much better than they are."

"They're number two in the country, Danny."

"Only number two? Please," he scoffed.

Lindsay hit his arm again, this time harder. "Lemme finish!" He held up his hands in defeat, and then resumed his earlier ministrations. She grinned, leaning back in her seat. "Thank you. As I was saying, they followed the Vegas CSIs around for the duration of this rape case. Only it wasn't just about rape."

Danny looked confused, and she had to work hard to hold back a laugh at how childish he looked before continuing. "The guy, their culprit, dressed as a fireman to get inside the women's apartments because he was obsessed with their _feet_."

"Aw, honey . . . I think that guy is more interested in you because of what you're wearing, and how you look in it. Not your feet."

"I knew I should have changed before we left." She paused, glanced at the stranger, and then looked back at Danny. "Are you sure it's not my feet?"

He couldn't help it. As she finished her sentence, she got a funny look on her face and he burst out laughing at the sight. Her response was a little different.

"Hey!" she cried as she grabbed his shoulders and shook him, pulling his face closer to hers and her foot out of his lap in the process. "It's not funny! Creepy firemen obsessed with feet? It freaked me out!"

"Why?" he asked with a grin.

"I have . . . this . . . strange fear of fire and getting burned."

"What do you do when you get an arson case?" He was genuinely curious about her phobia and how she dealt with it.

"I . . . umm, I—"

She was cut off as the subway cars jerked to a violent stop and she was roughly thrown forward into his arms. The main lighting went out and they were forced into a silent dark glowing green with the faint emergency lights.

"What the hell was that?" she breathed out as she sat up in his lap. Instinctively, he tightened his hold on her while reaching for her shoe to hand to her.

"I don't know, but I'm getting really sick of these blackouts." He looked around a few times then motioned towards the door connecting the two cars together. "Let's go check on the conductor. You got your badge?"

She nodded, pulling it out of her jacket pocket and clipping it at her waist. "Let's go."

* * *

There were two people in the head car, college-age kids who looked like they were heading out to a club. Danny told them quietly to stay in their seats, pointing to their badges as he and Lindsay walked towards the conductor's little booth. Throwing open the door, they found a surprising sight.

"Where the hell is he?" he exclaimed in confusion. She bent down and squinted at the seat in front of her.

"Danny – is that blood?" He glanced down at her quiet question, confirming her suspicions that the dark pool on the seat was indeed the crimson liquid they were so used to seeing.

He spun around to the clubbers. "You two see anything'?"

"Naw, man," the guy spoke up. "We, uh . . . we were kinda busy."

The girl added, "I think we mighta fallen asleep or sumthin'."

Lindsay locked eyes with Danny, motioning for him to join her in the corner. He did so, leaving their backs turned towards their new "friends."

"They're definitely high off something," she whispered.

"Ya think?"

"I'm not sure they're telling us the truth, drugs or not."

"Alright. I'm gonna call Mac, let'im know we need a team out here. I wanna get home already." He pulled out his cell, punched in the speed number for his boss, and was about to lift it to his ear when he heard one of his least favorite sounds in the world.

The click of a gun cocking in his ear.

"You're not going anywhere, popo."

TBC


End file.
